Anti-Israel Media Bias: An Idiot's Guide

By Noah Beck, Op-Ed Contributor Tuesday, November 03, 2015

A Palestinian protester takes cover during clashes with Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of Bet El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, October 23, 2015. Palestinian factions called for mass rallies against Israel in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in a 'day of rage' on Friday, as world and regional powers pressed on with talks to try to end more than three weeks of bloodshed. — A Palestinian protester takes cover during clashes with Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of Bet El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, October 23, 2015. Palestinian factions called for mass rallies against Israel in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in a "day of rage" on Friday, as world and regional powers pressed on with talks to try to end more than three weeks of bloodshed. | (Photo: Reuters/Mohamad Torokman)

12) Don't be afraid to present Gazans as they present themselves (brandishing butcher knives and calling for Jewish blood). Show this Palestinian mother who celebrates that her child was killed trying to murder Israelis and who hopes that she and her other children all die for the same "cause." Showing the Palestinian death cult of Jew-hatred that runs from crib to coffin might help observers understand why there's still no peace.

Just for some context, when was the last time that you saw a video of a Jewish mother hoping that she and her children can all die for the sake of murdering some Germans to avenge the German Nazi murder of 6 million Jews (which seems a bit worse than praying on a contested holy site)?

13) If you want to falsify information to sanitize Palestinian terror, as NBC correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin did, try not to do so on live TV, because you'll look really biased (and stupid).

14) It's better to research whether the maps you display on your "news" broadcast were produced by anti-Israel propagandists BEFORE you broadcast them, because otherwise you'll look as biased (and stupid) as NBC/MSNBC did.

A masked Palestinian distributes sweets as he celebrates with others an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, November 18, 2014. Two Palestinians armed with a meat cleaver and a gun killed four people in a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday before being shot dead by police, the deadliest such incident in six years in the holy city amid a surge in religious conflict. | (Photo: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

15) To ensure that your reporting is fair and consistent, consider how a similar event was covered in other countries/contexts. For a strikingly convenient example, contrast how differently NBC News (again!) reports on airstrikes taking place in two neighboring Mideast conflicts, within just eight days of each other:

On Oct. 3, NBC News used this headline to report that 60 Russian airstrikes in Syria killed 39 civilians: "Russia Launches New Wave of Airstrikes in Syria." On Oct. 11, NBC News used a much more personalized headline, with victim profiles, when reporting on one Israeli airstrike that killed two civilians: "Israeli Strike in Gaza Kills Palestinian Woman, Child as Violence Continues." So are two Gazan civilians more worthy of attention and sympathy than 39 Syrian civilians?

Ironically, despite your endless bias in favor of Palestinian terrorists, they thank you by posing as journalists in order to stab Israelis — a deceit that only undermines the trust that combatants have in the label "PRESS" and potentially endangers true war correspondents.

Each small instance of bias may seem like a mere "journalistic microagression" against Israel, but its cumulative effect is toxic and sometimes deadly. At best, the persistent anti-Israel bias poisons many millions — from voters to policy-makers — against Israel. Even worse, it can lead to anti-Semitic violence, by mobs and/or individuals thugs, as is so often the case in Europe.

You journalists are key to a fair and civilized world. Start acting like it.

Noah Beck is the author of "The Last Israelis," a submarine thriller about the Iranian nuclear threat and the doomsday scenario that it could produce.